Voss

I don't think that at your first playthrough, you will know when will a natural team just turn hostile.It is a d&d style RPG (meaning the focus is on killing people), similar to the ie games. Pissing people off through dialogue is an inevitable result.

I think you misunderstand my reaction. Part of it is... They're just freaking bears. But most of it is, this is just mid-tier stuff at best, there are 6 more levels and all sorts of enemies to go. If bears cause your high defense/armor build so much trouble, it is going to be -utterly- worthless against real enemies later on.

Which is weird, because the tank doing better then the other characters isn't what I see in the video. The CC and healing carry the fight, and it would go much smoother with proper damage dealing. The tank isn't keeping the enemies locked with him through abilities, and given the number of enemies, the shoddy engagement rules aren't either. It isn't tactics, strategy or cunning plans. Just crap AI. Almost anything that blocked pathing would serve the same function. Bears are the worst case for armor? I wasn't thinking of level 6 ogre boss fights in particular, but significant fights. And since health damage is cumulative and you can't do jack about it (outside of resting), even trash mobs can wear this type of tank down to the point the character can't survive. The resource management aspect of the game starts turning around one meatshield's health bar.

Apparently it is, because you've completely missed the points 1) Having a wizard put on a robe shouldn't be a punishment for the wizard 2) Some people want robes to be functional rather than bad, even if only for costume variety. 3) Robes are not any more restrictive and confining than several other outfits of the same period, nor do they use thread any more capable of turning sword blades than anything else. 4) The armor system is borked to the point that only specific character builds should bother with any sort of armor at all, and everyone else should lounge around in casual clothing, or be naked. Which given the setting and historical parallels, isn't as ridiculous as you seem to think it is. Why shouldn't it have the same sort of penalty as putting on any other armor? It's not like the robe isn't giving you something in return (just like other armors) and now you have an alternate choice if you don't want to deal with the penalty and still want to wear something enchantable. As for there being any setting or historical parallels that would make adventuring (facing dangerous foes and trekking through towns and wilds comunicating with the local inhabitants etc.) naked a reasonable option from any roleplaying perspective LOL... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudity_in_combat Here you go. Meet the Celts not-actually-Glanfathans, honest. Would you like something on the Greek Olympics? As for the first part- because the trivial amount of DR you get is absolutely worthless (given health and damage numbers) and the recovery penalty you get in exchange is borderline obscene. It's like getting a penny for being punched in the face.

I found her much more irritating in BG2. Starting from minute one in the cage, when she tries to take control of the situation from inside the cage. And then got deeply offended by her 30 second grief cycle followed by a horrible stab at 'romance' mere days after her husband's grisly mutilation (if the PC is male, anyway). Then you have to deal with the curse from people she's offended in the past, and Harper shenanigans, where she happily betrays you, then changes her mind and betrays them, happily helping to slaughter them all. Contemptible person. In BG1 she's just annoying, and the only decent early-game healing character that isn't in a locked area. [branwen is a decent healer, but grossly inferior combatant]. In BG2 she's actively offensive, demanding and childish, and has three viable replacements that can be reached without effort. In my current playthrough I completely ignored her in BG1, and in BG2 was playing sloppily through the prison, and she ended up dying to the duergar. Shockingly, no one else cared about Khalid when we came across his corpse.

Nah. I just want more from an RPG than Loot Simulator 2014 and MMO fetch quests. And NPC interaction that isn't just 'click all options on the left side of the circle to regurgitate info-dumps, click one option on right side of the circle to progress conversation in slightly different tones for some manner of response that is vaguely related to what you said.' Or rather, to start a voiced interaction that usually loosely relates to what the text on the dialogue circle said, and get a response that might be vaguely related to that. Now go find 6 hidden objects or kill 4 people and said NPC will like you more. If you do this enough, when you finally get around to doing the main story and get to vaguely climactic bits of the actual game, they might agree to bang.

Watching the video, I'm not convinced of the idea that tanks are awesome. Necessary maybe, to tie up the extraordinarily stupid AI, but despite the triple digit deflection, they happily chewed own the tank repeatedly, and only constant heals and crowd control kept him upright. It was great for mitigating crits and converting a lot of hits to grazes, but that fighter still took 222 points of damage during that fight (going by the health total at the end, not the healed endurance), despite the sky high deflection and 14/18 DR. I'd like to see the same fight but with some well built damage dealers (like sensuki's estoc and arquebus rogues), or some crazy druid builds. Even taken to an extreme the tank absolutely requires a dedicated healer and lots of CC to stay upright, and certainly can't handle a fight like that more than twice without resting (and even the second fight would be iffy). Having optimized damage dealers takes a lot of pressure off the tank if they can kill stuff faster. It does convince me that armor is a bad idea for damage dealers (and CC characters and healers). The delay just isn't worth it when enemies still do 20-30 damage over 18 DR (and even graze for 9-12 damage). And defensive wizard spells are a complete waste of space. Aside: one thing I really didn't like is the ogre doesn't actually make a disengagement attack at the idiot fighter who walked behind him. An icon flashes at his circle, but no animations. Sad.

I can't take this seriously, especially in reference to the IE games. I just finished another BG play-through the other day and I had 112000 gp, and I was actively skipping stuff toward the end, not looting trash mobs and didn't bother with Werewolf Island at all, or finish up the soultaker storyline. Currently, I'm in the midst of BG2 again, and I've only finished about half of Chapter 2 (not windspear, nalias quest, the black dragon, the sewers under the copper coronet, the graveyard, docks, or bridge districts and I've got over 60,000 gp and a half-full inventory, which if actually sold, would net me another 20K, and I've already bought the shield of balduran and the belt of hill giant strength, which were about another 35K to purchase. Money is rarely an issue in these types of games after the first few levels, even if you're only half-heartedly exploring.

Entourage. Company (as in Adventuring or Mercenary Company) Gang I'll probably recruit everyone possible to staff up the stronghold, but first time through I'll pick the most useful 5 companions (like Grom I feel class and skill sets will largely dictate this) to cart along with me unless one is Jaheira or Anomen level of aggravating. Or if the attributes don't mess well with the class. Second time through (if its worth playing a second time, I'll take the useless companions to enjoy their stories, and pick up the slack with custom built adventurers. Or maybe re-use a companion if their particular build and story is exceptional. But probably custom made, just to have a decent gender make-up. sigh. Unfortunately with just 8 companions, I feel that most of the decisions on who to take as the Starting Five are already made for me. It somewhat depends based on how deeply/hard to find they are. One I know I won't use in the class' current shape, and another I doubt.

Weird. They told me that despite the fact that I wasn't actually crazy, I was Joan of Arc reborn anyway, and I should just suck it up and be their bloody savior already, and no amount of commentary on how they shouldn't be absolute religious nutjob fanatics in no way altered their belief that I was their Chosen One (despite repeated denials, and once in the Fade, actual evidence) OR offended them in any way whatsoever. I knew I was in trouble when they started singing at me, and the song involved the fundamental idea that the sun rising every single day was a complete mystery to these people. It apparently only happened if their personal savior loved them enough, because their god actively doesn't. But I did have the ability to sexually harass multiple characters until they gave in and agreed to knock boots, so it was pretty much exactly what I expected from Bioware. Though actually the Josephine romance was a little sweet, and the inversion of the response I expected for defending her honor actually impressed me a little, as did just cuddling on the couch silently, rather than cringeworthy dialogue and 'artful' not-quite-sex scenes. But mostly I boggled at how little game there was. If you actually ignore all the collector items to fetch for literally no reason at all, the actual main story is maybe 12 hours, with about 8-12 hours of _pure grinding_ to meet the level requirements. Like Emerwyn, I want a long game, but I also want content to be worthwhile. The DAI quests were mostly 'read note; collect three bear spleens; automatic quest turn-in; XP++ Seriously, that literally (well, paws and furs) happened. Twice. But so many of the quests involved no interaction with anyone in any fashion. There was maybe 10 hours of decent content in the game, maybe 2 of pretty good content and endless hours of empty meaningless drivel where you are doing everything but confronting the world-ending crisis. Which will, of course, wait entirely on your leisure. Someone's going to assassinate a ruler? Eh. See you in six months, when I've got the time and the painfully incrementally-leveled gear.

I'm afraid I don't follow. There isn't anything mundanes can do with crafting that casters can't. They also seem to mostly be accuracy/damage upgrades, (or DT/deflection upgrades) so I don't think they really counter anything anyway. Bestiary knowledge is an interesting approach, but it won't work with PoE, since such knowledge is gained by defeating said critters first.

D&D knowledge won't help much, except for broad outlines of some of the copied spells. Its more likely to lead to false assumptions in some places, in fact. Stats: might (for damage), Int (for AoE increase and duration increase). Dex may help, but you likely won't have enough points to speed yourself up enough. Skills: whatever. stealth and mechanics are obviously useful. Survival may be for potion effects and etc. The others don't seem to matter much as long as someone in the party has them (and can be chosen for scripted events). I'm honestly a bit fuzzy on some of them, but there might be PC-only scripting that can mess up your plans with skills, but few skills are seem all that tightly tied to class. (except rogues and stealth). Weapons- ranged (but avoid bows ATM). you don't want to be where people can smack you, though pikes/quarterstaves can give you a couple paces if you absolutely must melee for some reason. Armor- none. It's a trap Talents- avoid wildstrike. Too many conditionals and percentages, and melee isn't where you want to be. It really depends. ideally you want talents that you're going to use all the time, and not situational ones. you can grab extra spells if you really want to focus on casting (but I'm not sure the talent investment for a single low level slot is really worth it), or you can stack up weapon focus, gunner, penetrating shot and so on so that all your non-spell ranged attacks are even more worthwhile. Spells- kind of a non-issue for druids, because you have access to all of them (of the appropriate levels) all the time. That said, I'd prioritize damage and debuffs over buffs. When combat ends so do the spells, so buffs have a high resource investment and minimal return. (And firebrand [think D&D flameblade) and the like are really worthless without persistent durations).

Honestly, given Sensuki's bar fight video, not running away seems like a survival trait. Between the pathfinding problems and disengagement attacks, once someone bases you the AI should immediately halt. Or not use such borked systems...

Been an issue since forever, it seems. Sawyer enjoys the hugbox and the echo chamber more than any locale which will question his sometimes odd decisions or hangups. God forbid he'd have to defend the decisions. So of course, when X designer doesn't agree with you, he must just "enjoy the hugbox". What an asinine thing to say, but all to common around these parts... Considering said designer literally just posted a short 'nuh-uh' in response to people showing the math, perfectly justified.

Trust me, it shows.

Apparently it is, because you've completely missed the points 1) Having a wizard put on a robe shouldn't be a punishment for the wizard 2) Some people want robes to be functional rather than bad, even if only for costume variety. 3) Robes are not any more restrictive and confining than several other outfits of the same period, nor do they use thread any more capable of turning sword blades than anything else. 4) The armor system is borked to the point that only specific character builds should bother with any sort of armor at all, and everyone else should lounge around in casual clothing, or be naked. Which given the setting and historical parallels, isn't as ridiculous as you seem to think it is. Currently you're better off with most of the party without armor. The recovery multiplier is ridiculously awful, and the amount of DT is poor.

Not to defend the OP, but given the small size of the PoE team, I think its reasonable to assume that Obsidian is working on multiple other projects not-PoE related. Something about armored cards or finding war paths, maybe?

So, what? They sent out the beta build to have people check for bugs that don't exist anymore? Sounds... useful. Because they are still bugs to be found and a day 0 patch to be filled with fixes. Yes? So you don't distract people with stuff already fixed. That way they can focus on the still existing ones that need work. The logic behind what you are suggesting makes no sense. Not updating the beta build again with two weeks left is perfectly sensible, but there is zero reason to send out an old build rather the current build for the final beta cycle.

So, what? They sent out the beta build to have people check for bugs that don't exist anymore? Sounds... useful.

Uhm, are you saying that intelligence are not a personality trait? You are not confusing personality with taste now? I believe that both intelligence and preferences can be part of what we normally describe as personality. Yes. And no, nothing to do with taste. Its your ability to retain and absorb information, nothing more. You'll be a better person with access to more information, but it doesn't dictate if you're a doormat or a jerk, or a kind romantic who loves helping puppies. But in this game, all the attributes are just adjustments to various secondary characteristics (damage, duration, etc) and nothing more. Well, and unlocks for conversation options, but that is a gamist mechanic of a different colour. @Luckmann It is a number in a spreadsheet. I have no idea what part of your personality you think makes you 'gun harder' (do more damage with bullets) but I suspect might is a pure game abstraction unconnected to anything real.

@stubbin - That assumption isn't correct- many devs are absolutely terrible at playing their games. Also, people playing while showing off content, commentating for an audience or streaming often get flustered when they screw up, which makes things worse. The goal is also to show off parts of the game, not get bogged down or manage a perfect play through. And again, these aren't the first things you fight in game. It starts off elsewhere (and has also been shown off by josh) with entirely different circumstances and obviously not BBcompanions.

E-books? No, not at all, this isn't worthwhile paid content. Fansite web page and ctrl-f

We requested hooded/helmed characters for people who might not've made characters that match the other portraits well. Sure. But they could have been 3 different hooded heads rather than 1 with 2 palette shifts.

It can't be, since they're totally unrelated concepts. Personality has nothing to do with being high might so damage or high intellect so long duration debuffs. Which has what to do with Aloth liking fine wine and comforts again? It's 54%. That is pretty massive, especially when you figure in DT afterwards, which hurts those smaller numbers more than the larger numbers. And the stacking multipliers for various damage effects (including weapon enchants) also benefit more from a larger base number than a smaller base number. Take an enemy with 10 DT against that attack, and 100 hp. Simplified (to ignore grazes, crits and misses) Character doing 24 damage (24-10DT=14)needs 9 attacks to drop such an opponent, character doing 40 (-10DT=30) needs *4*. Add some multipliers (a lash, any of a bunch of modals) and that can drop down to 2 quite easily. Even one 1.2 multiplier takes the first to 28.8 damage and the second to 48 (which means the 40 damage character drops the enemy in 3 attacks). Thats really huge, as you're roughly denying the enemy 5 or 6 actions. Because it is a terrible ability that doesn't do much. The characters using defensive abilities pretty much need to be built to that purpose using an entirely different class. You might as well ask why not use Larloch's Minor Drain rather than Magic Missile all the way to the end of BG1. The better option is to build the mage as a damage dealer and protect himself by burning down enemies as quickly as possible. Temporarily raising a wizard's defense a few notches isn't worth the activation time. Just put a 60 defense (and buffable higher) fighter in the enemy's face and the problem is solved far more effectively than raising the wizard's defense.

...somewhat? I'm a little uncomfortable with ethnicity=skin tone shift, but every other feature stays exactly the same. It reminds me of some 19th century lantern slides I cataloged, where an artist had colored them in by hand, and the 'good' native americans in the pictures had lighter skin tones than the others. Plus the hooded girls, the elves, the monks and the aumaua ladies look a little lazy.